The Lion King: Dawn of the Nations

Episode 49: Alleviation

Kion was sitting on the edge of Pride Rock, looking into the stars of the night, as the wind caressed his mane. "It's finished." Kion said.

"I knew you could defeat him, son of mine." Simba was suddenly at his side.

Kion looked at his father. "Is this why you asked me to return?" He inquired with great intrigue. "To take your place instead of Kiara?"

Simba was looking at the dark blue horizon. "It proves that you made the right decision."

Kion lowered down his gaze, thoughtful. "She would have ended him as well. My sister is strong, Kovu is strong as well. I was supposed to reign the Tree of Life with…my beloved."

Simba looked at his son. "The Tree of Life is in good paws, you made sure it stayed that way before you left."

"I only left because you asked me to do so." Kion looked at him with subtle resentment. "You're my father, the love I have for you made me listen to your words and accept your orders." He shook his head while looking away. "But I can't lie to you." His voice started to break. "Many times I've wished I hadn't listened to you." A tear ran down his face. "My Rani would still be alive if we had stayed in the Tree of Life." Kion started to sob silently. "Everything would be better."

Simba got onto his paws and approached him, looking into his eyes. Kion slowly switched his gaze towards his father's. "Son." He nuzzled his face tenderly. "I wouldn't have called you if I knew that all of these things were going to happen. Unfortunately, they did, and it's a burden you'll have to carry for the rest of your life."

Kion started to cry, resting his face on Simba's shoulder. "I messed up, father." He sobbed with guilt and sorrow. "I failed you. I failed everyone."

"No, Kion." Simba comforted him with fatherly nuzzles. "You won the war. The Pride Lands are safe once again."

Kion shook his head. "I'm not talking about the war." His tears started to flow more constantly.

Simba kept nuzzling him, thinking for a long moment while caressing his son reassuringly, with understanding, empathy and love. "You made mistakes." He placed a paw over his front leg, patting it gently. "Same as I back when I was in this world, in the place you are standing now."

Kion kept crying. "I need you here." He nuzzled his dad caringly. "I miss you."

Simba nuzzled him and licked his forehead tenderly. "I'm always with you, son, as I am right now. But you must understand something very important, this duty is yours, and you have to confront it, even with your fear, with your doubts." Simba kept nuzzling him. "I trust you, Kion, and I love you."

Kion sobbed. "I love you too, father."

Kion opened his eyes abruptly, still with peace in his heart, with tears falling through the fur of his face. He groaned while getting onto his feet, feeling the pain on his nape, chest and face, still bearable enough to start walking. The light of the moon entered through the cave's entrance, he looked at Kovu and Kiara, who were sleeping as deeply as his cubs and his nephews. He smiled, keeping his gaze on them for a while, then he kept walking towards the exit.

Kion exited the cave and walked down the rocky path until reaching the grassy ground, looking at Pride Rock from below, then he just started to wander around the rest of the caves, looking at the trees, at the stars and the occasional rocks and ponds. He walked peacefully while thinking about his kingdom, about the talk he had with Simba in that dream. "My king." His thoughts were interrupted by Nyumbani's voice.

Kion's ear twitched while he gasped, looking over his shoulder. "Oh…" He chuckled. "You scared me a bit, Nyumbani."

"Sorry." Nyumbani let out a brief, silent chuckle. "Your wounds are still healing, you should be resting in the cave."

"I know." Kion replied. "I just felt like going out and see the stars." He looked at her. "Sorry, for how long have I been in the cave?"

"Two nights." Nyumbani said.

"Oh." Kion expressed with astonishment. "It was that bad, then." He glared back into the star filled sky.

"I'm glad to see you're well, my king." Nyumbani said, bowing her head and starting to walk away. "With your permissio…"

"Hey, uhm…" Kion looked at her with a pleading face. "Can you stay?" He lowered down his head for a moment. "I…I need some company, everyone else is sleeping."

Nyumbani looked into his eyes for a long moment, then smiled at him amicably. "Of course, king of mine." She walked towards Kion and sat down next to him.

"Thank you." Kion said. "How is Garia?"

"She's been attended as one of your family, my king." Nyumbani informed.

"Good." Kion looked back at the stars. "I knew she would be in good paws."

Nyumbani was looking at the bright and far stars as well. "It's my duty."

After a couple of minutes, Kion looked at her, noticing her luminous blue eyes. He looked back into the night sky briefly after so. Nyumbani also glared at her king for a moment, with her gaze focused on his firm and strong figure. She also returned her gaze to the sky rapidly.

Fuli was in her cave, laying down, with the fire in the middle having been extinguished as usual in order for her, Azaad and their cub to get some good sleep. But she was still awake. "Darling." Azaad said with a sleepy voice, he was laying his head over her neck. "What's wrong?" Fuli closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. "Love, your breathing sounds…uneasy." Azaad licked her head tenderly. "Something's worrying you." He began to nuzzle her face. "What is it?" He licked her cheek. "I know you're awake."

Fuli sighed. "Sorry." She licked his snout. "I don't want to take your peace away, sweetheart. It wasn't my intention to wake you up."

"We are one, Fuli." Azaad said lovingly. "In peace and in turmoil." He looked at her with worry. "Sweet, what is it? Is it what we talked about the other day?"

"Yes." A tear ran down her face. "When Ozel informed me about Kion's state, I thought I was gonna lose him." Her voice was broken.

Azaad sighed. "But he's fine, Ozel said he's out of danger. At least that's what the healers told him."

"I know." Fuli felt a great lump in her throat. "Still, what if he had died?" She started to cry. "I would've never had the chance to see him again."

Azaad raised an eyebrow. "But we saw him not too long ago, darli…" He got interrupted.

"Not as rulers!" Fuli kept crying. "As friends, I just want to share a moment of peace with him." She continued sobbing as tears ran down over the fur of her face. "I lost all of my friends, Azaad, all of them!" Fuli sobbed. "Bunga, Ono, Beshte, they were taken from me…" Her crying reflected great pain and mourning. "I want to see him. When he recovers, we're inviting him here, not for politics or for war…we're just gonna…" She kept sobbing. "We're just gonna do that." Fuli glanced into his eyes. "Please." She rested her forehead on his.

"I…I don't know why you still care about him, he had us exiled." Azaad spoke silently, but yet with great anger.

"He made a tough decision, that's all I see." Fuli's sobs became more silent. "Azaad, please. I want to see him, I want to…rebuild."

Azaad looked at her with disbelief. "Rebuild? You can't rebuild what's been turned into ashes."

"If there's something that I…" Fuli sobbed. "…learned from him and his father…is that life can spring up again, even in the darkest of places."

Kion was standing on the edge of Pride Rock, still looking into the stars, feeling the midnight's air stroking his face. Nyumbani had left several minutes ago. His ear twitched when hearing a gasp and quick footsteps that approached him from behind. "Uncle Kion!" Zale expressed with relief and got right next to him.

"Hi, Zale." Kion smirked at him. "Why are you up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep." Zale replied while sitting down.

"Is something troubling you?" Kion inquired with true worry.

"Not really, I just had a lot of things in my mind." Zale answered. "What about you? You should be resting, your woun…"

"I feel much better now, Zale, don't worry." Kion said, looking back into the stars. "I just needed to think, the night can be very helpful with that."

Zale looked at the stars as well. "And what were you thinking about?"

Kion lowered down his gaze, getting a feeling of great sadness and defeat as a tear ran down his face. "I deserve everything that has happened to me." He spoke with a broken voice, then stood silent for a while, with Zale looking at him with pity. "I am responsible, all I have left is the future."

Zale thought on what his uncle just said, then he got closer to him and nuzzled his front leg with care, then he looked into his eyes with a smile. "Have faith, things will get better."

Kion nuzzled him back, stroking his head gently, then he looked at him with a grateful smile. "You're a good nephew, Zale."

Zale chuckled. "And you a good uncle."

"Try to get some sleep." Kion gestured at the cave's inside. "I'll get in soon."

"Alright." Zale began to walk away. "Goodnight, uncle."

"Goodnight." Kion responded, then turned and continued looking at the stars with a glare of conviction.